News about the DAZ Studio and Poser software

DAZ Studio v4.5’s new features

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I finally found some time to take a look at the new features of DAZ Studio v4.5. It’s still free in the Pro version, which is of course the biggest feature for many users. 🙂 In 4.5 users also get, among other bits and pieces…

  * FBX Import. (Useful, especially for iClone/3DXchange 5 users, but “not all features of FBX are supported”)

  * Group Node (Group 3D elements together, to form ‘layers’ like in Photoshop. Sounds interesting).

  * Viewport speed dramatically increased… by 2-5x… (Nice, but hopefully the new speed won’t mean jaggy edges in DAZ’s lovely implementation of OpenGL 1.6 in the viewport)

  * Improved stability, less crashes. (/Cough/)

These are just the ones that caught my eye. Nice-sounding improvements, certainly. But not enough to make me want to leave DAZ version 3.0 (or Poser 2012, or iClone).

1.0 final stable release of LuxRender – available now

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The new v.1.0 final stable release of LuxRender is out now. It’s a high-end “physically based and unbiased rendering engine” that works with Poser Pro 2014 and DAZ Studio. Free software, both for personal and commercial use.

For a survey of other high-end external render engines for Poser, see my posting from back in March 2012.

Renderosity Halloween Contest

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Renderosity’s Halloween Contest has its 2012 theme: Unhappily Ever After. The actual competition details will be available on 12th September 2012.

“They often say that love happens the moment you lay eyes on that special someone for the very first time. It’s as if the stars were perfectly aligned and the two of you were destined to meet in order to share eternity with one another. But what if your soulmate was really not the person they seemed to be? That after the vows were exchanged and the last bit of cake had been eaten you soon discovered a haunting reality too frightening to even imagine. This is your opportunity to let your creative juices run wild and interpret what the complete opposite of wedded bliss might be.”

Entry deadline: 16th October 2012.

Phenotype Havoc poses

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A new free poses set for the superb R.D. Phenotypes set of characters by Sanctum Art. Specifically for the 002 Havoc monster figure. Although I guess they may also fit the others too, such as the awesome Phenotype werewolf (called “Horde” for some reason). Sadly the Phenotype characters are no longer sold. But if you have them in your runtime, then this is a nice freebie addon.

Miki 4, due in Sept

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The new Miki 4 figure for Poser, coming in late September 2012 via the Content Paradise store…

“Miki 4 is a completely re-sculpted body morph of Miki 3, with Poser’s powerful Vertex Weight Mapping for superior bending, and posing and Subsurface Scattering for photorealistic skin.”

* Vertex Weight Mapping for superior bending
* Subsurface Scattering for photorealistic skin
* Poser Face Room compatible
* New Miki 4 face morph
* Has abundant Advanced Body Controls for faster posing
* Joint Controlled Morphs for muscle and tendon movement
* Extensive set of facial expressions and phonemes for synthesized speech
* Fully modeled eyelashes
* All existing Miki 3 textures will work with Miki 4.

But what about the clothing…? Will Miki 3 clothing fit Miki 4?

Nursoda releases new standalone characters

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Nursoda’s website may have vanished, but he’s still releasing cool standalone figures for DAZ Studio and Poser. Nos is his latest release, out today on Renderosity. Nos is a kind of hip film star from one of those French art-house movies, but given a toon look. I kind of like it. Could be great for someone producing a graphic novel and in need of an off-the-shelf central character…

Nos has a partner too, Muggie…

Nos in Poser Comic Book mode… definitely with something of the old silent movie-star Buster Keaton about him.